Review : MacFamilyTree

MacNN Rating:

Price: $49.00 US

The Good

Easy to use. Displays information so you can understand it. Can import and export GEDCOM formatted files. Provides for media files. Good documentation in a number of languages. Suitable for a beginner or professional.

The Bad

Confusing to use in places. Interface design needs some work. Small bugs still exist. Some preferences still in German.

Now that so much information is available on the Internet, Genealogy is very popular. Until recently, two Genealogy programs owned the market for their platforms, Family Tree Maker for the PC and Reunion for the Mac. Both programs start with a family history card listing husband and wife, and link to their parents and children. You can place additional information on each person's card, such as birthplace and date, death place and date, plus a space for notes. The notes section is a large text area in which you add information related to that person. There may be census information, military notes, oral family history from your grandparents, journal entries, death certificates, marriage licenses, to name a few sources. Professional and amateur Genealogists have used this process on paper for thousands of years and from this information, they create charts, reports, and publish books.
MacFamilyTree is much like its predecessors. The first window in prompts you to Create, Open, or Import an existing Family Tree or open the tutorial. When you start a new Tree, you must enter a Reference Person, upon which all other family data relates, so they recommend you start with yourself. The Family Assistant walks you through setting up the whole file. The middle of the screen displays you as an animated circle with an Add button, which you click to choose the relationship and add more family members.

MacFamilyTree Create a Tree Window

The tutorial helps get you started, plus explains some of the interface elements. In addition, you can access a 40-page Quick Start Guide under the Help Menu. Don't let the page size fool you; the English help is only nine pages. Help in Italian, French, and German is also included in the Guide.

As you collect family information, you link more people to your tree. Soon, you develop an index with links to many of your family members. When you click on the link, you go to that person's family card and can enter additional information. If other people are researching your family members, they can export a GEDCOM formatted file from their genealogy program. Most every computer's Genealogy program can import and export selected data using the GEDCOM format, including MacFamilyTree.

MacFamilyTree Families Window

In the past, Genealogists maintained large files filled with documents, photos, copies of book pages, personal journals, letters, and other items. Today, you can scan those documents and place them into Genealogy software along with sound and movie clips. Persons, locations, and events in photos can be identified. This helps to gather each member's life in one place. My family bible is over 200 years old. To preserve the bible, I scanned it and now the genealogical information on its pages is safe. I can go to the scanned documents if I need to view information found in the Bible, and it is all stored in MacFamilyTree, and other places for safekeeping.

Features

MacFamilyTree includes a number of features and the developer listens carefully to user feedback. The latest version, 5.1.3, adds a Media Browser, in which you can view all attached pictures in one location. In addition, the World Map in version 4 is replaced by a spherical Globe view, which links to Google Earth. MacFamilyTree shows your information in a number of helpful ways, including a new Fan Chart. Eight customizable views and seven reports display your family data in a variety of charts and diagrams. The forms help you better understand the information you have researched. Time lines may also be helpful, as they answer questions, such as, why your family moved from Haiti to Charleston, SC just after the American Revolution? Hint, the French Revolution forced the immigration of French nobility from Haiti, a French colony. Noting events gives your family an historical frame of reference.

While the interface uses the familiar Mac OS X Add (plus) and Delete (minus) buttons, other elements are not quite Mac-like. For example, a small checkbox on the bottom of many Edit and View windows brings up a preference dialog, in which you click checkboxes to turn off and on various options, but no close box, OK, or Cancel buttons appear to confirm changes. You click the screen to close these preference windows. The dialog choices aren't always very clear, and no help was available. Buttons appear in the bottom of some windows, but the graphics are very small. Thankfuly, Synium included helpful tool tips that pop up when you move your mover over the buttons.

Database maintenance features let you search for different kinds of date entries, so that you can make them all compatible and one format. In addition, you can delete entries entered by mistake, or ones in which information is not valid, but you're not offered the choice to review these entries before deletion. After doing some database maintenance, Ilene created a Distinctive Persons report and discovered her living relatives had died - that day evidently. So, there are still some small bugs that need to be worked out.

MacFamilyTree includes the ability to export your information as an HTML file. You can place the web pages on MacFamilyTree's web server for others to view. This area is in its infancy, but may soon be very helpful. You can also export the HTML to post on .Mac, to CD or DVD, or to view from your hard drive. The page templates are few, with options for a Black, Dark Wood, Map, or White background, but they make viewing easy. You can import Address Book data and MacFamilyTree version 4 files.

MacFamilyTree Web Page

Unfamiliar with genealogical terminology, Ilene was confused by the reference to Keluk? numbers. Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter explains, "The German mathematician Stephan Kekule of Stradonitz (1863-1933) was a genealogist as well as the son of famed mathematician and chemist Friedrich August Kekul?. He used a numbering system to show relationships in text format. In German-speaking counties, lists of names created with Stephan Kekule's numbers are still referred to by his name: Kekule numbers. However, in English-speaking countries the same numbers in lists would be called 'ahnentafel numbers.'" It would be nice if explanations like this were included in the program.

Overall

MacFamilyTree helps you annotate your family history including notes and narrative, photos, sound clips and movies. It provides numbers of reports and charts. These charts and reports help you understand the relationships between family members. You can easily move information from program to program using a GEDCOM formatted file.

The Family Assistant gives a graphic representation of your family tree. When you click on any of the people and you go to that branch of the tree. This can be a bit confusing with large families though. MacFamilyTree includes most of the features included in much more expensive programs and is certainly worth trying out.

Now AAPL Stock: The symbol you provided ("AAPL") doesn't appear to be registered

Cirrus creates Lightning-headphone dev kit

Apple supplier Cirrus Logic has introduced a MFi-compliant new development kit for companies interested in using Cirrus' chips to create Lightning-based headphones, which -- regardless of whether rumors about Apple dropping the analog headphone jack in its iPhone this fall -- can offer advantages to music-loving iOS device users. The kit mentions some of the advantages of an all-digital headset or headphone connector, including higher-bitrate support, a more customizable experience, and support for power and data transfer into headphone hardware. Several companies already make Lightning headphones, and Apple has supported the concept since June 2014. http://bit.ly/29giiZj

Share

Developer775d

Apple Store app offers Procreate Pocket

The Apple Store app for iPhone, which periodically rewards users with free app gifts, is now offering the iPhone "Pocket" version of drawing app Procreate for those who have the free Apple Store app until July 28. Users who have redeemed the offer by navigating to the "Stores" tab of the app and swiping past the "iPhone Upgrade Program" banner to the "Procreate" banner have noted that only the limited Pocket (iPhone) version of the app is available free, even if the Apple Store app is installed and the offer redeemed on an iPad. The Pocket version currently sells for $3 on the iOS App Store. [32.4MB]

Share

775d

Porsche adds CarPlay to 2017 Panamera

Porsche has added a fifth model of vehicle to its CarPlay-supported lineup, announcing that the 2017 Panamera -- which will arrive in the US in January -- will include Apple's infotainment technology, and be seen on a giant 12.3-inch touchscreen as part of an all-new Porsche Communication Management system. The luxury sedan starts at $99,900 for the 4S model, and scales up to the Panamera Turbo, which sells for $146,900. Other vehicles that currently support CarPlay include the 2016 911 and the 2017 models of Macan, 718 Boxster, and 718 Cayman. The company did not mention support for Google's corresponding Android Auto in its announcement. http://bit.ly/295ZQ94

Share

Industry775d

Apple employees testing wheelchair features

New features included in the forthcoming watchOS 3 are being tested by Apple retail store employees, including a new activity-tracking feature that has been designed with wheelchair users in mind. The move is slightly unusual in that, while retail employees have previously been used to test pre-release versions of OS X and iOS, this marks the first time they've been included in the otherwise developer-only watchOS betas. The company is said to have gone to great lengths to modify the activity tracker for wheelchair users, including changing the "time to stand" notification to "time to roll" and including two wheelchair-centric workout apps. http://bit.ly/2955JDa

Share

Troubleshooting776d

SanDisk reveals two 256GB microSDXC cards

SanDisk has introduced two 256GB microSDXC cards. Arriving in August for $150, the Ultra microSDXC UHS-I Premium Edition card offers transfer speeds of up to 95MB/s for reading data. The Extreme microSDXC UHS-I card can read at a fast 100MB/s and write at up to 90MB/s, and will be shipping sometime in the fourth quarter for $200. http://bit.ly/294Q1If

Share

Upgrades/storage776d

Apple's third-quarter results due July 26

Apple has advised it will be issuing its third-quarter results on July 26, with a conference call to answer investor and analyst queries about the earnings set to take place later that day. The stream of the call will go live at 2pm PT (5pm ET) via Apple's investor site, with the results themselves expected to be released roughly 30 minutes before the call commences. Apple's guidance for the quarter put revenue at between $41 billion and $43 billion. http://apple.co/1oi1Pbm

Share

Investor777d

Twitter stickers slowly roll out to users

Twitter has introduced "stickers," allowing users to add extra graphical elements to their photos before uploading them to the micro-blogging service. A library of hundreds of accessories, props, and emoji will be available to use as stickers, which can be resized, rotated, and placed anywhere on the photograph. Images with stickers will also become searchable with viewers able to select a sticker to see how others use the same graphic in their own posts. Twitter advises stickers will be rolling out to users over the next few weeks, and will work on both the mobile apps and through the browser. http://bit.ly/29bbwUE